BMW is developing a racing version of its M8 performance car to compete in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and 24 Hours of Le Mans from next year, and it has revealed the near-finished product at the Frankfurt motor show.
The M8 GTE, which is also due to race in North America's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, took to the track for the first time early last month. It uses thoroughbred parts and bespoke bodywork long with a race-adjusted turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine and six-speed sequential gearbox.
Although the racing car's exterior is heavily altered for racing, it offers the first official glimpse of BMW's upcoming 8 Series model, which isn't due to be officially revealed until the Los Angeles motor show in December.
Racing regulations restrict the M8 GTE to around 500bhp, which is roughly 115bhp less than the anticipated output of the road-going M8. But the GTE’s more extreme chassis set-up and lower weight will ensure it is significantly faster on track.
BMW intends to use the M8’s racing involvements to boost development of the following M8 road car. The road car is due to be launched after the regular 8 Series.
The company's entry into next year’s WEC and Le Mans will pitch it against the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche for GTE class honours. The M8 GTE will overtake the M6 GT3 as the top contender in BMW's motorsport arm. It will be the first factory BMW to enter Le Mans since 2011.
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BMW reliability
In well over 350,000 miles in 5 BMWs they have never had reliability issues. Both my prsesnt M235i and it's predecessor a 123d Coupe have run fautlessly.
BMW reliability
In well over 350,000 miles in 5 BMWs they have never had reliability issues. Both my prsesnt M235i and it's predecessor a 123d Coupe have run fautlessly.
Seems like a BMW hater
I'm on my 3rd BMW (all personal purchases), up to about 200,000 miles across the 3 now and only had a single failure in that time and that was covered by warranty. It also wasn't a failure that stopped the car getting me to my destination either. The majority of those miles have been done way out of warranty period and the cars just kept going year after year. Perhaps the important note here is that I had the cars serviced at a main dealer all the time when required but perhaps others aren't so careful with their's and so experience failures.
I've also had 2 VWs, both Passats, the first was fine but I only had it for 20,000 miles and the other broke a gearbox at 63,000 miles, so just out of warranty (a £2,800 repalcement apparently though after a few hours of hassling, VW did pick up most of the cost), and also suffered a number of other more minor issues that required trips to the dealer. Those 2 VWs let me down considerably more than my 3 BMWs have despite travelling less than half the distance. In all cases the BMW dealer I use has provided incredible service where the two VW dealers I tried both showed little interest in providing anything approaching customer service despite charging more for the privilege in most cases. So ignoring the whole emissions cheating issue, I would definitely NOT put my trust in another VW car or dealer.